The first chartered flight, under ‘Operation Ajay’, carrying 212 Indian nationals including students from war-torn Israel landed at the Delhi airport on Friday morning.
India has launched Operation Ajay to facilitate the return of those who wish to come back home as a series of attacks on Israeli towns by Hamas militants over the weekend triggered fresh tension in the region.
Federal Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar welcomed the returnees at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi as they reached the lounge early Friday.
Sources said, the Indian government is bearing the cost of the return of those returning home.
“We are thankful to India. Most of the students were a little bit panicked. We saw some notification and the links for every Indian citizen through the embassy of India which boosted our morale. We felt like the embassy of India is connected with us which was a kind of relief to us,” Shubham Kumar, a student in Israel, was quoted as saying.
There are an estimated 18,000 Indians in Israel, around a dozen in the West Bank and three to four in Gaza.
Source: The Daily SUN.